User Guide

Chapter
9
Modifying Da
ta Values
The data you start with may not always be organized in the most useful manner for
your analys
is or reporting needs. For example, you may want to:
 Create a ca
tegorical variable from a scale variable.
 Combine se
veral response categories into a single category.
 Create a ne
w variable that is the computed difference between two existing
variables.
 Calculate the length of time between two dates.
This chapter uses the data file demo.sav.
Creating a Categorical Variable from a Scale Variable
Several categorical variables in the data file demo.sav are, in fact, derived from scale
variables in that data file. For example, the variable inccat is simply income grouped
into four c
ategories. This categorical variable uses the integer values 1–4 to represent
the following income categories: less than 25, 25–49, 50–74, and 75 or higher.
To create the categorical variable inccat:
E From the menus in the Data Editor window choose:
Transform
Visual Bander...
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